


Statistically Plausible (But Not Logical)

by ainamclane



Series: Little Black Dress RT Challenge - Sentinel and Guide Verse [33]
Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-27 23:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13891332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ainamclane/pseuds/ainamclane
Summary: Charlie tries to use math to find his brother's Guide





	Statistically Plausible (But Not Logical)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/gifts).



> Happy Birthday Red_Pink_Dots!
> 
> unbetaed,  
> Charlie/Don platonic  
> this is set in episodes 1 and 2

Don had always been online for as long as Charlie was alive. It had started with his mother's pregnancy that he had come online as a Sentinel. Surprisingly to the Alpha pair that had assessed him though, he wasn't Alpha material as suspected with kids coming online before their tenth birthday.

Don always thought it was because Charlie had claimed so much attention from his parents that he had needed to keep himself protected and protect his brother because he knew that Charlie was different.

Different but not weird or broken or disabled. Even if some of the kids thought so. Don had difficulties being around Charlie because the kid was so demanding of his time but Don tried. That and the need to separate himself emotionally from Charlie's mind. He was brushing up against the kid too much and he knew it.

Playing ball was just one means to separate himself from Charlie. His baby brother was good with math but not playing sports. While their Dad was always mindful to help him out with sports, his mother mostly turned to Charlie to help him with his school work. Not the math, no, that was no one of them that could help Charlie there after a certain amount of time. No, she helped him understand English and make sense of politics and history. Chemistry, Biology and all the other classes and courses that Charlie had to go through while Math was simple.

Skipping classes came with the load work of that but once their mother told Charlie he had to just find the mathematics behind each subject, Charlie got by okay. 

Don, well, he was mostly staying away and with his friends. Not that he didn't watch out for Charlie when the kid was in a catatonic state due to some problems with his classmates that were bullying him as he was the smallest kid in a teenage class for example. But Don knew early on that he needed to protect people. That he needed to go away and join either the police or his favourite, the FBI. He would try to use his baseball for college entry but knew it was only a means to an end even if their Dad wanted him to join the professional league and Don tried. Always hearing Charlie's background statistics of his playing and how that smart kid was mostly right.

So, when Don had left, he had been assigned interim Guides within the FBI. Mostly to function but most Guides assigned were female so while they couldn't fully bond, Don accepted them as a relationship to keep his senses stable. Mostly anyways because an interim Guide was never as good as his true Guide.

Returning to LA because his mother was terminally ill was tough and Don was struggling with a new position within the FBI as well as Charlie's absence. He was mostly working on some math problem hidden away in the garage while their mother was slowly dying. Don wanted to go and drag Charlie to the hospital to see her because she had moved half a country away with Charlie to support him and Charlie was just not there.

"Your brother knows what's going on, Donnie. He just deals differently with this than we do. He can't see me like this or remember me like this. Give him the chance to be different in processing this."

Don tried to accept his mother's view as he knew she probably knew Charlie better than anyone. Seriously, she was the one that had spent the most time with his brother and knew how he was.

Nevertheless, it hurt. It was hard on them. On them all and when she died, Don felt like part of his pack just fell away. It was hard leaving his interim Guide behind because she didn't want to move away from Albuquerque and he had. He had felt the need to be with his family, back on his territory that he had lived in as a child.

While he hadn't had much to do with the local pack then, he had more to do with it now as most people were within the FBI that were Sentinels or Guides. So, Don was well connected while also knowing he wasn't Alpha. He probably wasn't even a Beta Sentinel to someone. He was just normal and while that suited him fine, he was left out of the big pack bonds because he was unbonded.

All in all, it irked him.

That and not finding out who or where the hell his Guide was.

While Don was mostly visiting his father's house now, he met with Charlie as well and their whole relationship was getting a bit better than it had been before the death of their mother. Don was still trying to get used to the whole team and the lack of a Guide on said team. He wondered when the Bureau would be getting on his case about this but probably not before something went wrong in the line.

Charlie was looking at Don in a worried matter and Don shrugged it off but all in all, he did agree that he could look into the serial killer's case. They needed to get a lead on the perpetrator and soon. If mathematical equations that went beyond Don's head could help figure it out, so be it.

While only Terry and David were trusting in his instincts to trust Charlie, he could relate that the other Agents were mostly running different leads. When they solved the case, they were all relieved but Don could feel the envious looks his team got at the praise for the good, resourceful work and the thinking around the issue.

Coming home to his father's and Charlie's place, Don dropped his feet on the coffee table and took a pull from his beer. Charlie was looking at him and being the brother Don could be proud of, now more than ever. 

That hadn't always been the case. The most he had felt when they were kids was just not smart enough and that he was always in Charlie's shadow. The brother behind the genius. That was now how they were nowadays though and Don could see that more than ever.

The help Charlie had gotten from Amita and Larry was pretty solid as far as friendships and working relationships went. Don was happy to see that Charlie could depend on his friends as much as he could depend on Terry and David, even if David had just joined his team.

Don made a mental note that Charlie would get a consultant fee for his work as well. He had worked on the case quite a few hours after all.

On the next case that Charlie helped them, it all went to hell. Don was getting shot at by some robbers and he could just imagine what Charlie must think. Not that Don had the time to think about it much.

**

Ever since Charlie was little, Don was there to help him out but also to make him act like a normal kid. Don couldn't relate to anything mathematics so instead Don made sure that Charlie got out to ride his bike with him and his friends to learn. Don dragged him out to play ball a bit and was always distracting him with something when Charlie was annoyed with solving a math problem and needed a distraction.

He secretly hated how Don was so people orientated and had friends and was outgoing much. Charlie was the opposite and when he was old enough to know why, he really wished he would be a Sentinel, too.

Being taken away from Don was hard on him. He was really hoping that he would see his brother again but by the time Charlie had graduated from university, Don had made it into the FBI and was in Albuquerque. Not what Charlie had imagined but okay. Accepting CalSCi was easy for Charlie as it meant he could stay at home and when their mother got diagnosed, Charlie was glad he was around.

At least at first. He wasn't ignorant enough to know that he was looking for a distraction from his mother's death. He knew working on P ≟ NP was just a means to distract him but he needed to try. He needed to do something that wasn't so pointless, hurtful as death.

When finally, after all this time, Charlie was content with his life and work, when he finally thought he had a grip on taking care of himself without forgetting to eat too often, he realised that he could actually help his brother. That he could solve the cases he was working on based on math because everything was math.

While their first case working together wasn't quite what Charlie had wanted, solving it and finding the latest victim alive was what made Charlie realise that the whole time since his mother's death, his math theories and workings could actually mean something. Could actually safe a person's life instead of being pointless.

It was a new high in Charlie's mind and in the way he saw himself and his work. It was something that he could connect to with Don. Ever since their mother's death, they may have seen each other regularly but it wasn't like they were brothers. More like sharing the same person they loved - their father - as a means to talk and communicate. They were very much strangers to each other.

Statistically, Charlie knew how many Sentinels left their families all together because of different worldviews. He was surprised Don even came back after Albuquerque. That alone was already odd. Not that they had fought as a family, no, more like every other family that had their share of drama and problems.

Logically, Charlie knew that to find Don's Guide here in LA were greater than back in Albuquerque on the base alone that LA attracted more people in their pursuit of careers and clustering to the bigger Sentinel and Guide Centers for just the same reason. Finding the Guide to a Sentinel had a ninety-five percent chance whereas a Guide finding their Sentinel was down to forty-four-point-three percent. The other, remaining percentages were bouts of luck and simply different because there were more Guides around than there were Sentinels and the active search of the individual versus the passive going through their life aspect.

Charlie knew through the NSA that there was a small team researching that problem. He had already put in some request to help them if they needed a mathematician simply because his brother was a Sentinel and who knows, maybe that problem could solve the mystery to Don's Guide as well.

He would ask Larry for that because the other man was a known latent Guide and might have some insight from his time training at the Centers simply because he would need to know how to shield himself if he came online.

Not that every person got tested for the genes. Mostly only if the parents were online and had the dominant genes in both their ancestors. Which was why Don hadn't been tested as it was unlikely in the first place. Don just looked like their mother's grandfather who had been a Sentinel. 

Charlie was quickly thinking that over and mentally was already following the mathematic thoughts he would need to find all Guides and Sentinels that were latent and simply not tested because their parentage was too far removed and the tests rather expensive. Plus, not everyone was comfortable with their DNA samples being stored on the servers once tested. It was some law that Charlie didn't understand but had been included as a means to reassure the population when the laws were drafted.

So, Larry might know something that he wasn't considering on the physical or biological background knowledge that normal mundane wouldn't have access to. And Don wasn't one to talk about it much, either.

"You okay there Charlie?" His Dad asked him and charlie nodded, more absent in his thoughts than really there to react. It was usually enough for his father to see that sign of life from him to know he wasn't too deep in his thoughts. That he was still able to feed himself and drag himself out of the thoughts. While he was already taking the chalk into his hand, he still thought the finer details over some more.

He would be solving this statistic on Guide and Sentinel ratio and how to predict someone coming online. It might take some time, he knew that but still wanted to try.

"What are you working on?" Alan asked him interested and took a paper to read tucked under his arm, fully intending to watch Charlie work in the garage and supervise him of some sort.

"I plan on predicting Sentinel and Guides in children of non-Sentinel and Guides. We know for a fact that most pairings in the community are homosexual instead of heterosexual. So, on that basis alone, Sentinels and Guides should decline in numbers, correct? What if we only know part of it? Could be that if two special genes come together, we get Sentinel and Guides. Could be that it actually is a dominant DNA trait or a recessive one? We don't know for a fact. But based on the numbers, we might just predict the actual number of Guides and Sentinels living among us but not yet found out and who they might be. That in turn would help with the DNA testings to only test those in that small group."

"You want to find your brother's Guide."

"I do," Charlie nodded with a shrug: "We don't have the genes so why does Don have them?"

"It's in the family once removed, you know that."

"Yes, see, hence why I want to predict this. If there are other families out there who have absolutely no clue, imagine how many children might come online and are called crazy because they don't think to test them for Sentinels or Guides because they don't have them in the family and think they're mentally ill? How many kids could commit suicide before being told what is wrong with them or why they're that moody?"

"Jesus, Charlie, that is quite a stretch."

Charlie shrugged as if he knew that himself and started on the calculations.

The quiet was soothing but he heard when Don came walking in, looking for them and grabbing a chair in the garage next to his dad. He didn't even ask Charlie as he probably knew better anyways so Alan told him what this was about and Don looked at Charlie in surprise. Charlie knew that Don was probably telling him not to with those looks but Charlie wanted his brother to be happy. 

Going from one Guide to the next only for that Guide to leave him when they found their own Sentinel was probably not healthy for Don and as Don wasn't an Alpha to begin with and able to sustain without a Guide for very long, he was just that fiercer in trying to find said Guide for his brother.

It didn't even take Charlie to the next case of his brother to work out what the math had told him. That Charlie was supposed to be a Guide. Same as Amita and Larry. Charlie had double-checked the whole thing because he didn't know how that could be. Seriously, statistically it was plausible but not logical. If Charlie was a Guide, why hadn't he come online long ago? Especially surrounded by Don. Why hadn't Amita or Larry? All of them hadn't had the easiest childhoods to begin with so one of them should have come online. Hence, statistically plausible but not logical.

But then again, hadn't his Dad once told him that he was trying to change the human perception, human responses into math? That wasn't logic to begin with. Humans weren't that logical. They were instinctual and driven by their needs. 

Charlie would need to adapt the thinking of the problem, the way to approach the equations. That or ask them to get a test done to proof his math was correct.

Probably not the former problem. He should verify with the Center himself. Additionally, to everything, Charlie was mentally talented after all. He just wondered why no one had bothered to test him when he was a child.

It was basically when Don came walking in, ranting off about a series of bank robberies that were taking hold over LA and without a pattern or any hint of evidence to catch them.

Charlie had a new focus then. The task of helping his brother on a case outweighed the mysteries he was trying to solve with the Guide and Sentinel matter. It was only taking a few moments with Larry to find a good idea in how to track the robbers down and predict where they might hit next.

Predicting the two likely places was easy math. Barely took more than an hour once the data had been collected. 

Not so when Charlie heard on the news what was happening where Don was. Not when suddenly, all Charlie could to was walk up to the area of the shootout, seeing the ambulances, the covered dead bodies on the streets and still no sign of Don.

The dead silence around Charlie barely registered. The ringing in his ears not really there and he barely let Terry wave him through, focusing on the dead and blood surrounding him. The whole shell casings he could see. The area littered with grief, shock and adrenaline.

Charlie still didn't react. He couldn't find Don. Didn't see him, didn't hear him. Couldn't feel him.

"Where's Don?"

"He's out back. He's fine, Charlie," Terry replied seconds before Charlie himself saw Don, barely a scratch on him. Well, obvious scratch. Charlie could see the holes in the vest where Don had taken them. 

Charlie managed to function on a minimal level. Until he reached home and the sanctuary of the garage. 

It was there that he saw the reminders of the Sentinel and Guide Math. It was there that he realized the mental feel of the whole neighbourhood.

Not really knowing how to help himself, Charlie realized that something was going on with his thoughts and mental landscape. He was smart enough to know that he had come online in obvious distress to Don's situation and feeling guilty for what had happened to the one agent that had been killed. 

Barely hanging on to a single threat, Charlie could only work his math. P vs NP. That was all that was left. That was all he could focus on before losing it completely. He barely registered his father in the background, coming in and worrying about him. He barely noticed Amita and Larry stopping by, knowing just what he was doing or having been told what they thought he was doing.

It was as if a cycle was running through his head of hearing gunshots on the tv. Of not finding Don in the chaos on the scene. Of knowing the statistics of Don having taken some bullets to the vest and how likely it was supposed to be him, dead on the floor. It was mentally exhausting, and Charlie could feel the pressure of his father's emotions and worry, of the others and he couldn't do a single thing to block it out.

He barely went inside to get something to drink or eat. He saw Don and it felt like something was hitting his mental shields. It was something like a calm after the storm. Charlie probably knew what that meant, too. 

Don's startled gaze met his just between the house and garage. He was reaching out for Charlie and Charlie knew the moment their bodies touched, that something mentally would give way. He had no means to warn his brother about this. No means to fight it, still barely functioning, still trying to work on P vs NP to hide his mental thoughts and steer them away from a full meltdown that he knew Guides could get.

"Jesus, Chuck, why didn't you tell anyone?" Don asked and with that touched Charlie's hands, holding on tight and wrapping his shields around Charlie's, knowing instantly that they were compatible. Mentally already bonding together and Don briefly stumbled under the onslaught of Charlie's mind and thoughts. Of the math he had been trying to do to keep sane in a certain way.

"I couldn't." Charlie replied and that was the truth: "Any second not spent thinking hard on the math was close to zoning."

Don's arms wrapped around him in a tight hug: "I'm here. Charlie, I'm right here and alive. I won't let you go."

Charlie nodded, knowing that now that they were bonded, there wasn't much that could separate them. Charlie could feel how Don's knowledge of the shields was already instinctively helping him out to shield himself better. To fit it all. 

"What about the bonds, Don? What about outside relationships?"

"Shhh, we get there when it is coming up," Don said: "Right now I just want to hold my Guide. Want to know you save and feel you mentally. If and when we ever fall for someone outside the bond, we will discuss this as adults. You and I both know there's nothing sexual in our bond."

"I know," Charlie said and sighed in relief. They all knew of bonds between siblings that could turn sexual. It wasn't always easy on them. Just small mercies that so far it had only hit same sex couples. Not for them apparently. Charlie wasn't gladder than ever before that Don wasn't an Alpha. That he himself wasn't Alpha level. 

It was wrapped up in each other's arms that their Dad found them: "Hey?"

Don barely lifted his head and focused on their father: "Charlie came online as my Guide, dad. Please don't come closer."

Alan's eyebrows nearly disappeared in the hairline: "Okay, sure. Are you-" he stopped obviously nervous but also knowing he had no right to ask whatsoever.

"We're barely level three on the spectrum. Only Alphas are said to have the absolute urge to bond sexually," Don said and shrugged: "We don't feel the need."

"I'll be going out of the house though. You probably need to imprint fully."

"Thanks," Charlie mumbled quietly because the full imprint was done mostly naked and embarrassing if witnesses were around.

Don shuffled them inside to Charlie's room after their Dad had left and Don all but barricaded the door. He methodically removed his gun and holster to settle it down on the dresser. Charlie was frowning and didn't know what he was supposed to do but decided to get rid of his shirt. This was probably mostly embarrassing, but Charlie felt like this was something they both needed so the whole issue wasn't as bad as it could be.

Don stepped back close, feeling along pretty much every single bone in his body, every dent the muscles and sinews did. Charlie felt reassured by the touches and knew Don also used the smell to get along their bond. This whole thing wouldn't take too long either, as it wasn't sexually.

After Don had his fair share of imprinting all his senses on Charlie, they both rested their foreheads together and Charlie was mentally seeking out Don's mind. It was a surprise to suddenly open his eyes and Don could pretty much see like in the Matrix, all numbers, angles and math pretty much constantly in every direction and situation. It would be interesting to go into the field and have Charlie's thoughts there. Like, directly there in calculating the wind and speed of the bullet as well as the angle. While this already came naturally and instinctually to a Sentinel, it wasn't always 100%. With this, it would be about 99,09%. Pretty much as good as it could get.

Don's thoughts on the other hand, the intuition of people lying to him, of how humans interact was already showing Charlie his relationship and the obliviousness to others around him. That didn't mean that Charlie would be acting differently, no, it was more a case of seeing a bit more of their point of view and as a result probably likely that the math Charlie would now be coming up with had that knowledge of Don's FBI analytics and human nature.

While the whole time they took to fully bond wasn't more than an hour, Don was getting restless about the case and the robbers. That big a gang out there was dangerous, and they did kill therefore it was likely they would again. They were also trained and professionals which meant Charlie's math had now to adapt. 

There was no doubt in both their minds that they needed to get them. It was just a means of how they could do that now. Charlie was reaching for a stack of paper booklets to write on while Don was driving them to the closest Sentinel and Guide Center to get registered. Charlie had barely informed their Dad with a note what they were up to before Don's sense of justice and threat to his team and Charlie was too great to dismiss.

They walked into the slightly busy Center and approached the front desk when Charlie pointed out a guy that had just as curly hair as Charlie had and Don knew the other man must be Blair Sandburg. The big guy next to him probably Jim Ellison. Don shrugged, unsure if they should approach them as they weren't high on the list when Blair turned to Charlie: "Oh, a new Guide."

Charlie blushed a bit and ducked his head, shrugging while also suddenly being inspired and scribbling something else on the paper. It got a frown from Jim but Blair's hand on the Sentinel's hand was stopping the man from saying something. Charlie was oblivious to the whole matter.

"How can I help you?" a young receptionist and Guide asked them kindly and Don nudged Charlie: "Chuck?"

"Oh, yes, sorry just a moment," Charlie replied and scribbled something else before completely forgetting again where they were and saying: "If the robbers have the same pattern but are more now that means the algorithm will change by some variables. Thankfully I won't need the irrational numbers to calculate that as we are in a real situation but predicting the statistics with that new information will change everything."

The receptionist looked slightly worried but it was Blair that walked up to them, much to the surprise of the receptionist and interrupted: "Dr Charles Eppes?"

Charlie reacted to that name and nodded: "Yes?"

"I'm Guide Blair and I think you and your Sentinel are here to get registered?"

"What?" Charlie frowned, looked around and shrugged: "Yes, sorry. I get to get lost in the numbers sometimes."

"I heard you are currently working on some statistics to predict Sentinels and Guides in families without the genetics?" Blair asked interested.

"Yes, I am. I thought I might just be wrong because the statistics indicated me as a Guide. But that was before Don got shot at and I just came online. I am currently working on catching them but then I will focus back on the Sentinel and Guide matter. As I don't think I'm all that wrong anymore."

"It is fascinating work and that is why we're here currently. We were coming down to LA to schedule a meeting with you about this actually. But first, you came online when?"

"About twenty hours ago," Don said: "I was in a shootout and didn't realize it until Charlie started to feel different when I returned to see him this afternoon."

"I was focusing on my math not to get mentally instable," Charlie explained: "But I did get that way before, so I guess my father and friends didn't realize what was happening until Don came by and realized what was going on."

Jim nodded and asked: "You're bonded now?"

"He's a perfect match to me," Don nodded.

"And you are?" Jim asked with a frown, taking in the badge and gun and sunglasses.

"Special Agent Don Eppes," Don replied and Blair looked at them in surprise while Jim assessed him with a nod that showed he was satisfied.

"Oh, that's really good that you found your matches right away," Blair said: "Congratulations."

"Wait, so you don't want to make some tests or something?"

"No," Jim shook his head while Blair took over that sentence: "we would never doubt any Sentinel or Guide that is bonded much less to someone they already known."

"We need to get registered right away and then leave for the case," Don said: "Charlie wasn't kidding with the math. We need to get those guys right away."

Charlie's face was doing some mix of distress and fear that Blair picked up on: "Charles?"

"They shot Don. Which is probably why I came online. But he's right. They're dangerous and I will do anything to help."

The receptionist had listened in and handed them some paperwork pretty much ready to sign.

Both men did, Charlie especially not wanting to lose much more time with this stuff while Don was checking his phone again. The team would probably be already wondering where Don was, seeing that Don simply had wanted to check up on Charlie and see if he couldn't help them find those robbers again.

Blair was smiling at them: "Go, be safe and if you would come back for some basic courses for you, that would be good."

Both men left, Charlie looking at the papers with him and sighed: "I think I've got it."

Don accepted that and drove them to the FBI building. 

*

It was hours later that they had caught the guys thanks to Charlie's predictions and the smart thinking of them and Don's knowledge of how to usually work those situations.

Charlie's idea of a trap and Terry and Don working out the basics of said trap, Don felt right and secure in the knowledge that his Guide was there, waiting for him and content with knowing that they caught the bad guys, this time, with no bloodshed.

While they both knew there were still some things they needed to learn about the other now that they were bonded, both could live with that. They were brothers after all and the most vicious, hurtful fights had been held within family after all. If that hadn't damaged them beyond anything, they doubted anything else could.

While Don wanted to celebrate their success of the arrest, Charlie wanted to go back to the numbers and do some math but Amita, Larry, Terry and David were all aiding in helping Charlie to go out with then as a group and relax for a moment. Plus, Charlie found, having the insight of Don's intuition and people skills, he found that it wasn't all that bad going out for drinks with friends.

"Charlie, you're looking much better than the times before when we went out. What's going on?" Larry asked quietly, and Charlie shrugged.

"He's my Guide," Don said and looked at his team and Charlie's friends to make them understand what that meant in their day to day life from now on. It would take some adjusting for them in the streets and how to work with Charlie and Don but overall, they knew that the new idea of using Charlie's math to their FBI cases had been leading them into a closer working relationship anyways.

Charlie was secretly wondering if the others were okay with this but found that it wasn't something anyone could change. He run the numbers mentally of something going wrong with this, or someone being weird about it but thought that overall, he could very much deal with it.

Don's happiness was also coming strongly through the bond. There was nothing Charlie wanted to change but get a better feel through some courses about his new abilities. 

Only time would tell how this would turn out in the end.

The end


End file.
